Abstract
Abstract. Geomatics is a discipline of collecting, processing and analysing geospatial data. Data collection is a core process of geomatics which usually adopt precise equipment to measure geospatial data. With the development of technology, a smartphone in this present era is not simply for communication; several low cost measurement devices such as Global Positioning System (GPS), gyro and camera are assembled in a smartphone. Although the devices assembled in a smartphone could not meet the needs of accuracy requirement for many geomatics applications, millions of mobile applications (Apps) can be downloaded and installed from Google Play and Apple Store freely, and a variety of sensors can be chosen for user. Considering that the popularity and convenience of a smartphone, and assuming that the accuracy of those collected data is acceptable for learning purposes, it is expected that a smartphone can be employed in geomatics for hand-on education. For example, Vespucci OSM Editor is an App to edit the OpenStreetMap on Android. The user may have the hand-on experience on GPS positioning, web services and mapping via Vespucci OSM Editor. The aim of this paper is to collect and analyze different Apps for geomatics education. The Apps are classified into four categories, namely, surveying, remote sensing, GPS and Geographic Information System (GIS). In this paper, more than 20 free Apps are collected and analysed for different hand-on studies in geomatics education. Finally, all the related Apps are listed on a website for updating.
Highlights
The purpose of geomatics is obtaining useful geospatial information for decision makers through data collection, data analysis and visualization
The major consideration is utilizing the smartphone as a mobile mapping device in geomatics education
The collected Apps are classified into four categories: surveying, photogrammetry and remote sensing, global positioning system, and geographic information system
Summary
The purpose of geomatics is obtaining useful geospatial information for decision makers through data collection, data analysis and visualization. With the advances in technology, a mobile device such as smartphone and tablet are integrated with variety of sensors like non-metric digital camera, low-cost GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope. Millions of mobile Apps can be downloaded and installed from Google Play and Apple Store Among these Apps, some specific Apps contain measurement functions which can provide distance, angle, area, location and other information. The measurement devices assembled in a smartphone could not meet the needs of accuracy requirement for many geomatics applications, they still can serve as rough reference information. These Apps can be used to support geomatics teaching so that students can use their own smartphones to. We analyze the statistics and vote of Apps for different category
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